Representatives of the Turkish Grand National Assembly has visited Novovoronezh NPP-2

18.06.2014 17:40
A delegation of deputies of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT), consisting of members of the committees of Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology visited the construction site of Novovoronezh NPP-2, met with the State Duma of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Board of Directors of the ROSATOM and AKKUYU NPP JSC.

Visiting reference for Akkuyu NPP of Novovoronezh NPP-2, where the first reactor (VVER-1200) scheduled to be commissioned in the end of 2014, was impressed by the parliamentarians of the Turkish Republic. They were acquainted with the stages of erection power units showed major security project. After visiting the full-scale simulator power station, the delegation visited the construction site of of Novovoronezh NPP-2. The presentation about the station was made by the Chief Engineer Mr. Anatoly Fedorov. He has told about the project and innovation, which are used in the process of building a new station.

Head of the Turkish delegation Mr. Halil Mazıcıoğlu stressed the importance of the fact that members of GNAT personally acquainted with the principles of the NPP. ‘We have seen how the pond-cooler, which resets the nuclear power plant cooling water, fish, and in the immediate vicinity of the station are located towns and farmland.

My colleagues and I have received convincing answers for all the questions,’ said Mr. Halil Mazıcıoğlu.

In the city of Moscow, the delegation of the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey met with deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation: a member of the Committee on Energy, chaired the subcommittee on legislative support of the use of atomic energy Mr. Vladimir Potsyapun, first deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Ecology Mr. Valery Yazev. The meeting was attended by Secretary of State - Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Rosatom State Corporation on performance of the public authority and the budget process Ms. Tatiana Yelfimova, Advisor to the CEO of Rosatom State Corporation Mr. Nikolay Martyanov.

Mr. Vladimir Potsyapun noted that the State Duma is constantly working to improve the legislative framework in the field of nuclear energy in the Russian Federation. ‘Constant control over the activities of the industry and legislative acts is being provided for smoother functioning. This year, in the upper house of the Russian parliament (the Federation Council) a special commission has been set up, whose task is to visit all the existing nuclear power plants in Russia. After a visit to nuclear power stations the Commission has prepared and represented a detailed report, where it was noted that there is no risk to human health, the environment when working on or near the site of NPP.’ The Deputy also said that nuclear energy is going to be actively developed in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, China and India. ‘The Republic of Turkey has made the right choice in favor of nuclear power, which will help to diversify the country's energy system and allow it to become more volatile,’ said Mr. Vladimir Potsyapun.

State Secretary – Deputy Chief Executive Officer of ROSATOM for performance of the public authority and the budget process Ms. Tatiana Yelfimova noticed that after the accident at the Fukushima-1 NPP all Russian stations passed the stress tests, which showed a high level and a margin of safety. ‘We use active and passive safety systems. Passive systems may optionally be introduced without the operating personnel, excluding a human factor. Thousand reactor years of safe operation of power of the Russian VVER speak for themselves,’ said Ms. Yelfimova during her report.

About the construction of Akkuyu NPP and its status today gave details of the Project Company CEO Mr. Fuad Akhundov. He noted that an updated report on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is under consideration by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in Turkey. The Chief Executive Officer said: ‘We are creating new high-tech industry in Turkey. Experts of the Project Company shall cooperate with the representatives of various government agencies of the Republic of Turkey in order to create the legal framework for nuclear energy. We are also preparing specialists at the National Research Nuclear University ‘Moscow Engineering Physics Institute.’ In Russia 190 Turkish students is studying at atomic specialties, and the fourth group is being prepared.’

Members of Parliament of the Turkish Republic were interested in security systems project construction of the first nuclear power plant in the country, the cost of construction, the possibility of participation of Turkish companies in the project, the influence of the station on the environment. The lower house of the Parliament of the Russian Federation together with the Deputy CEO - Technical Director of the Project Company Mr. Alexander Afrov answered all the questions and answers given by the competent construction of large-scale project in the province of Mersin. To a question regarding increasing seawater temperature near NPP Technical Director of AKKUYU NPP replied: ‘The only significant emission during operation of nuclear power plants is waste heat that will be discharged in four deep discharge pipelines. For such discharges the Turkish national regulatory standards allow an increase in temperature is not more than 1°C or 2°C on the surface of the receiving environment, depending on the time of year (an increase of 3°C is allowed in the sea water temperature above 28 °C). Professors of the Turkish Gazi University have developed a model which considered the four main pipelines to discharge heated water 6 m diameter each. It was found that the maximum excess temperature thermal pollution clouds formed as a result of discharge of heated water will be only 0.5°C.

Attending at the meeting the Head of the Great National Assembly Committee on Energy Mr. Halil Mazıcıoğlu thanked Russian deputies, representatives of the Board of Directors of the Rosatom State Corporation, AKKUYU NPP JSC for the meeting and the answers to the questions of Turkish parliamentarians. ‘These meetings allow a better understanding of organizational work within the state in the field of high-tech nuclear industry. In the future, we will conduct more such events,’ he said.